Luxembourg's Minister of Labour, Employment and the Social and Solidarity Economy, Dan Kersch, the Director of the ADEM employment agency, Isabelle Schlesser, and the President of the Union des entreprises luxembourgeoises (UEL), Nicolas Buck, today signed the “Companies, partners for employment” ("Entreprises, partenaires pour l'emploi") agreement covering the years 2021 to 2023.

This is the third agreement between ADEM and UEL, which began to collaborate closely in 2015. Since then, various initiatives have been carried out jointly, such as raising awareness among companies of the services offered by ADEM, organising recruitment days in different sectors and setting up tailor-made training courses for jobseekers for specific companies or specific activity sectors.

At the end of 2020, the context of the pandemic had significant consequences on the job market. The number of jobseekers has increased compared to the previous year and the number of job vacancies available at ADEM is decreasing.

Isabelle Schlesser explained: “It is the world of work as a whole that is in transformation. Jobs and skills are evolving, hence the need to invest in the development of skills that are highly sought after now and in the future".

Nicolas Buck highlighted the importance of this programme and UEL's desire to renew the partnership with ADEM: “This partnership which testifies to the commitment of businesses and ADEM has been a success. We invite all companies to get involved in this initiative and in particular to call on ADEM for the recruitments they plan to make”.

Faced with current uncertainties, ADEM and UEL have decided to focus on priority actions chosen annually according to the rapidly changing context and set four objectives:
- increase the number of hires of jobseekers and facilitate the recruitment of businesses by strengthening the dissemination of information to businesses;
- reduce the imbalance between job offers and profiles through training adapted to candidates;
- strengthen knowledge of the current and future job market;
- support recruitment for trades with labour shortages.

In 2021, UEL and ADEM will work on the following actions:

- effective and multilateral communication of information to companies;
- analysis of data available on the labour market in order to understand and anticipate trends in skills;
- organisation of targeted training for jobseekers;
- organization of regular recruitment events (virtual and / or physical);
- conclusion of bilateral agreements with companies wishing to commit to employment;
- implementation of a digital tool facilitating feedback from companies on candidates assigned by ADEM;
- strengthening of partnerships between ADEM and commercial Jobboards.

Minister Dan Kersch welcomed the initiatives already implemented by UEL and ADEM in favour of jobseekers thanks to this partnership: “Direct collaboration between the state and companies seems essential to me in order to obtain the best results in the interest of our job market. I am therefore confident of the results of the new programme established for the next three years”.